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[Denise]

http://abclocal.go.c...ocal&id=5733123

Wife of Bolingbrook police sergeant missing

By Sarah Schulte

October 30, 2007 - Illinois State Police are issuing an alert for the missing wife of a Bolingbrook police sergeant. The last time anyone heard from 23-year-old Stacy Ann Peterson was Sunday morning.

Peterson was supposed to meet a friend but she never showed up. She left the couple's home around 10 a.m. Her family reported her missing Monday morning around 4 a.m. after she failed to return home.

Her husband is Sergeant Drew Peterson, 53, a 29-year veteran of the Bolingbrook Police Department.

Stacy Peterson was going to help paint a house when she left.

State police say anyone who may have information on Peterson should contact them.

Bolingbrook police thought it was more appropriate to have an independent agency investigate the matter. However, police there are assisting the state police in the investigation. So far, there is no foul play indicated. Stacey Peterson was last seen by her husband.

"At approximately four in the morning, the family of Stacey Ann Peterson went into the Illinois State Police District 5 headquarters and reported her as a missing person. State police followed up with our department, sharing the information," said Lt. Ken Teppel.

Police say she was wearing a red jogging suit when she left. She was supposed to meet a family member to help paint a house.

Police say Stacey Peterson called her husband at 9 p.m. Sunday night. However, investigators would not reveal the nature of the phone call. Sgt. Peterson is taking some personal time off from the Bolingbrook Police Department. On Tuesday he was at home, but he did not want to do an on-camera statement without his attorney's approval.

"He's cooperating fully with the investigation. The Illinois State Police Investigators, I know the chief has spoken to him several times. The department has offered any type of support that we can give him and his family," said Teppel.

Stacey Ann Peterson is the police sergeant's fourth wife. Drew Peterson's previous wife was found dead in the bathtub in a Bolingbrook home three years ago. Her death was ruled an accident. But Tuesday, the Will County state's attorney said that he is going to review the case.

Sgt. Peterson was also fired from his job 20 years ago for misconduct. But he was reinstated after the charges went unproven.

"There's no signs of any foul play or anything that would determine otherwise. So that's why we're handling it, state police are handling it, as a missing persons investigation," said Teppel.

Investigators were interviewing family, friends and neighbors. They're also interviewing people at Joliet Junior College where Stacey Peterson took nursing classes.

[Denise]

http://www.chicagotr...1,1569736.story


Disappearance of wife spurs interest in old case

October 30, 2007

Authorities on Tuesday searched for a young Bolingbrook mother of two who left home Sunday morning to meet with a relative and help rehab a home.

Stacy Peterson, 23, the wife of a Bolingbrook police sergeant, never showed up, police said.

She was last seen dressed in a red jogging suit at about 10 a.m. Sunday by her husband, Drew Peterson, 53, a 29-year veteran of the Bolingbrook department, he told authorities. He said he later heard from her by phone at about 9 p.m.

Her family spent Sunday trying to reach her by phone, said Bolingbrook police Lt. Ken Teppel. When they couldn't, they went to the Illinois State Police at 4 a.m. Monday to report her missing.

Teppel said there were no signs of foul play and that investigators were treating the disappearance as a missing person case.

He said state police are investigating the case because it involves a member of an officer's family.

"Sgt. Peterson is cooperating fully with the state police," said Teppel, who added that Peterson is taking personal time to be with family. "Obviously, he's distraught."

Stacy Peterson is Drew Peterson's fourth wife. A previous wife, Kathleen Savio, 40, was found dead in an empty bathtub in her Bolingbrook home on March 1, 2004, officials said. At the inquest hearing, Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil said Savio drowned.

Although the bathtub was dry, her hair was wet when she was discovered and her fingertips were wrinkled from being in water.

Investigators speculated the water must have drained from the tub, and a coroner's jury ruled the death accidental. State police also investigated Savio's death. No charges were filed.

State's Atty. James Glasgow, who was not in office at the time of that case, said Tuesday he wants to review the Savio file.

"I was not the state's attorney when this case was processed, so for purposes of this investigation, this is being re-looked at," Glasgow said, adding that the jury's ruling at the 2004 inquest was not binding on his office.

He declined to discuss what, if any, connection there might be between the Savio case and the search for Peterson, saying only that "there are some unusual circumstances in the 2004 [Savio] case."

A relative of Savio said Tuesday that Savio was nearing a divorce settlement at the time she died.

Glasgow would not say whether authorities had identified persons of interest in Peterson's disappearance, noting it is a missing person case, not a criminal investigation.

"Right now, we're at the very preliminary stages of the investigation, and that kind of comment would be inappropriate," he said.

On Tuesday, Peterson's family members gathered at the couple's home in Bolingbrook, where Halloween decorations dotted the yard. Peterson answered the door but declined to comment.

"I'm waiting for my attorney to advise me," he said. "If he feels I should make a statement, then I will. If he advises against it, then I won't."

Reached by phone later, his mother, Betty Morphey, said: "My son is very upset. She's just a lovely girl. They get along beautifully. They're loving and kind."

Morphey said Peterson is a stay-at-home mother of two children, ages 2 and 4.

The couple has been married for a few years, she said, and had no problems of which she was aware.

"What can we do, how can we help? We just don't know. We're just hoping they find her. If she went, we don't know why," she said.

Stacy Peterson is a student at Joliet Junior College, where she is majoring in pre-nursing, said Jeff Julian, a campus spokesman.

She has been a student on and off since 2001 and was enrolled in one class this semester, Julian said.

She is described as white with brown hair and brown eyes, about 5 foot 2 and 100 pounds.

Anyone with information is asked to call 815-726-6377.

[Denise]

http://www.wbbm780.c...eath-Of/1152518

Il private enforcement delle norme sulla concorrenza

Search On For Cop's Wife, Officials Probe Death Of His Previous Wife

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (WBBM/STNG)  -- Illinois state police are searching for the 23-year-old wife of a veteran Bolingbrook police sergeant Tuesday who was last seen over the weekend -- meanwhile officials are taking a deeper look into the death of the sergeant's previous wife who was found in a bathtub.

Stacy Peterson was last seen Sunday morning in the southwest suburb, wearing a red jogging suit, police said. She is the fourth wife of Sgt. Drew Peterson, a 29-year veteran of the Bolingbrook Police Department.

Peterson is described as white, with brown hair and brown eyes, about 5-foot-2 and weighs about 100 pounds.

Bolingbrook police said that Drew Peterson has been cooperating with the investigation.

Meanwhile, in light of Stacy Peterson's disappearence  the Will County State's Attorneys office said they will be taking a deeper look into the death of Kathleen Savio, 40, Drew Peterson's third wife.

Savio was found dead in a bathtub of her home in March 2004. Drew Peterson and Savio were divorced at the time of her death and he was returning their two sons to their home after a weekend visit, but no one answered the locked door.

Peterson went to a neighbor's to call a locksmith. Once entry was gained, the neighbor went inside and found Savio's body in a waterless bathtub.

The investigation revealed Savio drowned. A coroner's jury ruled the death accidental. State Police investigated that case as well. No charges were filed.

Anyone with information is asked to call 815-726-6377. 

[Denise]

http://www.bnd.com/3...ory/166379.html

Authorities search for wife of Bolingbrook police officer

The Associated Press

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. --Illinois State Police are searching for the wife of a suburban Chicago police officer who's been reported missing.

Authorities say 23-year-old Stacy Ann Peterson was last heard from Sunday when she was supposed to help a friend paint but didn't show up.

Bolingbrook police spokesman Ken Teppel says foul play is not suspected. He says state police are investigating because the case involves an officer's family.

Stacy Peterson is married to 53-year-old Bolingbrook police Sergeant Drew Peterson.

A listing for Peterson couldn't be located but he declined to comment to the Chicago Tribune.

[Denise]

http://www.suntimes....oling31.article

One dead, one gone
Drew Peterson's ex-wife was found dead 3 years ago, now his current wife is missing

October 31, 2007
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO AND DAN ROZEK Staff Reporters

Three years ago, Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson's ex-wife was found dead in her bathtub. It was, police said at the time, an accidental drowning.

But now, prosecutors plan to take a fresh look at Kathleen Savio's death, as police investigate the disappearance of Peterson's current wife, Stacy Ann Peterson.

Savio's family, who never thought a seemingly healthy 40-year-old woman had drowned, is elated.

"I'm so happy," said one close relative, who asked not to be identified. "I don't feel they investigated it well enough."

But as the Savio family awaits answers, so too do Stacy Peterson's loved ones.

Stacy Peterson was supposed to meet a relative Sunday morning to help paint a home, but she never arrived. Relatives couldn't reach the 23-year-old mother of two by phone, became alarmed and eventually contacted police at 4 a.m. Monday to report her missing, police said.

But Peterson's husband told investigators he spoke with his wife on the phone about 9 p.m. Sunday -- and nothing in their conversation worried him. There have been no signs of foul play, authorities said.

"Right now, it's a missing person case," said Bolingbrook Police Lt. Ken Teppel. "She didn't come home."

Stacy Peterson's relatives asked Bolingbrook Police Chief Ray McGury to allow the Illinois State Police to lead the investigation.

Drew Peterson, 53, is a 29-year Bolingbrook Police veteran. He is "cooperating fully with the investigation," Teppel said.

Peterson has not been named as a suspect in his wife's disappearance. He's been married four times and one source Tuesday portrayed Peterson's marital relationship with his current wife as strained.

His relationship with his most recent ex-wife had also been troubled, Savio's relatives said.

When Drew Peterson and Savio met in the early 1990s, he was the Romeo boyfriend who surprised her with a Valentine's Day trip to Jamaica, one relative recalled. But five or so years into the marriage, Savio began to receive anonymous letters saying her husband was cheating on her, said the relative, who didn't want to be named.

Whenever Savio confronted Peterson, he would beat her, the relative said. The relative said she took Savio to a hospital after one such beating in the late 1990s.

"She was hit, she was bruised up, and she was dazed," the relative recalled. But Savio, who had two children with Peterson, was initially "deathly afraid" to leave her husband, the relative said.

In 2002, Savio sought an order of protection in Will County court. In the order, Savio claimed that her husband had threatened to kill her.

"He just doesn't care if he lives or dies, or I live or die," Savio wrote in March 2002.

That same year, Savio claimed in a letter to prosecutors that her husband had held a knife to her throat.

In 2003, Savio filed for divorce after learning her husband was having an affair with a young woman --the future Stacy Peterson. When Savio confronted her husband, he admitted that he had made the woman pregnant, the relative said.

Then in March 2004, Savio was found dead in a bathtub in her Bolingbrook home after the couple had divorced. Her death was ruled an accidental drowning even though the tub was empty when her body was discovered. Investigators theorized the water drained out.

"The state's attorney's office is looking at it, reviewing it with fresh eyes and an open mind," said a spokesman for Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, who wasn't in office at the time.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Peterson has taken time off to care for the couple's young children, Teppel said.

Reached at the couple's home in Bolingbrook, Peterson referred questions to his lawyer, who couldn't be reached for comment.

But Peterson bristled at a suggestion she may have met with foul play. "She's just missing," he said.

In 1985, Peterson was fired after the village board of police and fire commissioners ruled he had conducted a self-assigned investigation, failed to report a bribe immediately and committed official misconduct and disobedience.

He was reinstated in 1986, after a judge ruled the village board lacked evidence against Peterson. Related criminal charges were also dropped.

Stacy Peterson attends Joliet Junior College and is a pre-nursing major, a school spokesman said. She is 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes and was last reported wearing a red jogging suit.

[Denise]

http://www.dailyhera...d=67814&src=109

Authorities search for wife of Bolingbrook police officer

Illinois State Police were looking for the wife of a Bolingbrook police sergeant.

Stacy Ann Peterson, 23, was last heard from on Sunday, authorities said. She never showed up at an appointment to help a family member paint and rehab a house.

Police were investigating Peterson's disappearance as a missing persons case and foul play was not suspected, said Bolingbrook police spokesman Ken Teppel. State police were in charge of the case because it involved an officer's family, he said.

Stacy Peterson is married to Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson, 53, a 29-year veteran of the police department.

"Sgt. Peterson is cooperating fully with the state police," said Teppel. "Obviously, he's distraught."

A telephone listing for Peterson could not be located. He declined to comment to the Chicago Tribune.

"I'm waiting for my attorney to advise me," Teppel told the newspaper for a story posted Tuesday on its Web site. "If he feels I should make a statement, then I will. If he advises against it, then I won't."

Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow told the Tribune Tuesday that he would review the death of Drew Peterson's previous wife. No charges were filed after Kathleen Savio, 40, drowned in a bathtub in March 2004 and a coroner's jury ruled the death accidental.

"I was not the state's attorney when this case was processed, so for purposes of this investigation, this is being re-looked at," Glasgow said.

Glasgow declined to discuss if there was a connection between Savio's death and Stacy Peterson's disappearance but added, "there are some unusual circumstances in the 2004 (Savio) case."

Stacy Peterson studied pre-nursing at Joliet Junior College, according to campus spokesman Jeff Julian.

[Denise]

Missing woman's husband says she left him

By Erika Slife and Matthew Walberg

Tribune staff reporters

6:02 PM CDT, October 31, 2007

A Bolingbrook police sergeant whose wife has been missing since the weekend told the Tribune on Wednesday he believes she simply left him for someone else.

Sgt. Drew Peterson, 53, said in an interview at his home that when he spoke with his wife, Stacy, 23, on the telephone Sunday night "she said she was leaving."

State police said Stacy's cell phone has not been used since Sunday night.

"I believe she's safe," he said, his voice cracking with emotion. "Sorry, I get choked up about it. I believe she's with someone else, but I believe she's safe."

Peterson, unshaven and exhausted, said his wife's disappearance has been overblown by the news media. The case has drawn national attention.

"The media is flaring it up," he said. "I still have to answer and meet with people with a cloud hanging over my head. I still have to live with the aftermath of the media hype."

Peterson, the mother of two young children, was last seen dressed in a red jogging suit about 10 a.m. Sunday by her husband, a 29-year veteran of the Bolingbrook department. He told authorities she had left home to meet with a relative and help rehab a home. But she never showed up for that meeting.

One person close to Stacy Peterson doubted Wednesday afternoon that she would have voluntarily left her children.

Her family spent Sunday trying to reach her by phone, Bolingbrook Police Lt. Ken Teppel said. When they couldn't, they went to the Illinois State Police early Monday to report her missing.

Teppel said there were no signs of foul play and investigators are treating the disappearance as a missing person case.

He said state police are investigating the case because it involves a member of an officer's family.

Stacy Peterson is Drew Peterson's fourth wife. A previous wife, Kathleen Savio, 40, was found dead in an empty bathtub in her Bolingbrook home on March 1, 2004, officials said.

At the inquest hearing, Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil said Savio drowned. Although the bathtub was dry, her hair was wet when she was discovered and her fingertips were wrinkled from being in water.

Investigators speculated the water must have drained from the tub and a coroner's jury ruled the death accidental. State police also investigated Savio's death. No charges were filed.

Will County State's Atty. James Glasgow, who was not in office at the time of that case, said Tuesday he wants to review the Savio file.

"I was not the state's attorney when this case was processed, so for purposes of this investigation, this is being relooked at," Glasgow said, adding the jury's ruling at the 2004 inquest was not binding on his office.

He declined to discuss what, if any, connection there might be between the Savio case and the search for Peterson, saying only "there are some unusual circumstances in the 2004 [Savio] case."

A relative of Savio said Savio was nearing a divorce settlement at the time she died.

Glasgow would not say whether authorities have identified persons of interest in Peterson's disappearance, noting it is a missing person case, not a criminal investigation.

"Right now, we're at the very preliminary stages of the investigation and that kind of comment would be inappropriate," he said.

Peterson is a student at Joliet Junior College, where she is majoring in pre-nursing.

She is described as white with brown hair and brown eyes, about 5-foot-2 and 100 pounds.

Drew Peterson said he first met Stacy when she was 17 and he was 47.

"When I met Stacy, she was working at SpringHill Suites [in Bolingbrook]," he said. "We just hit it off, and one thing led to another. It wasn't something I planned. It was a very romantic time. It was very exciting."

http://www.chicagotr...hi_tab01_layout

[Denise]

http://www.chicagosu...age/x1086964821

Police unit at Peterson home to maintain some order

Wed Oct 31, 2007, 07:07 PM CDT

Bolingbrook police and members of the media local, regional and national continue to keep a vigil outside the home of Drew and Stacy Peterson four days after members of Stacys family filed a missing persons report with the Illinois State Police.

Stacy Peterson, 23, mother of two and wife of Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson, was reported missing by family members at 4 a.m. Monday after Stacy failed to show up Sunday morning to meet a friend help paint a house, police said.

Family members grew concerned when they said they could not contact Stacy Peteson by cell phone throughout the day and evening of Oct. 28, said Lt. Ken Teppel, spokesman for the Bolingbrook Police Department.

Teppel said Drew Peterson told police he received a phone call from Stacy at about 9 p.m. Sunday, although Teppel said he could not comment on whether or not that call has been verified through telephone records.

Teppel also said Drew Peterson did not provide the content of that phone call, other than to say he had been in contact with his wife.

Investigators from the Illinois State Police, which is heading up the investigation, also said they could not comment on specifics of the ongoing investigation.

Tonight the neighborhood is quiet, but several media members continue to wait outside the home.

Bolingbrook police are on the scene to maintain control over the street, said Teppel.

Weve had requests for information from at least seven national media outlets and almost all of the Chicago area print and electronic media, he said. This is the most attention weve ever had here, probably as much or more than the case of Rachel Mellon disappearing more than 10 years ago.

Because of all the attention and all the media that have been camped out at the Peterson home, we have a unit on the street just to maintain some order, Teppel said.

Investigators continue to follow up leads and conduct interviews in the case, being investigated by the Illinois State Police with assistance from the Bolingbrook Police Department Investigations Unit.

This is not a criminal investigation, but one of a case of a missing person, said Illinois State Trooper Mark Dorencz.

According to Teppel and Dorencz, authorities have had discussions with Drew Peterson.

Teppel and Dorencz both said Drew Peterson has been cooperative during the investigation but would not comment on specifics of those conversations.

Drew Peterson has worked for the Bolingbrook Police Department for 29 years and has been married four times.

His third wife, Kathleen Savio, was found dead in her bath tub in March 2004 while the couple was going through a divorce.

The Will County coroners office determined her death was the result of an accidental drowning, although when her body was found the tub was empty. According to the investigation into her death, her hair was wet and her fingers where shriveled, an indication that she had been in water.

Will County States Attorney James Glasgow said his office will re-examine the Savio case.

According to Chuck Pelkie, spokesman for the Will County states attorneys office, the case is under review because of the unique and unusual circumstances surrounding it, and because James Glasgow was not in office at the time of the Savio investigation.

Pelkie said Glasgow wants to get up to speed on the specifics of the Savio case.

As the vigil continued Wednesday outside the Petersons home at 6 Pheasant Chase Court, neighbor Richard Mims who said he was a friend of both Drew and Stacy Peterson described Drew Peterson as a family man who could not have harmed his wife.

Hes a great guy. A good family man, said Mims, a Bolingbrook resident who has known Drew Peterson for more than 20 years. He said hes known Stacy since the couple first met in 2001.

Drew Peterson was spending time with his children Wednesday, waiting for new information about his wife, Mims said.

According to Bolingbrook police Drew Peterson worked a shift on Friday and got off of work Saturday morning around 5 a.m.

Drew Peterson has taken a personal leave to be with his family the last three days, Teppel said.

Stacy Petersons disappearance has attracted national media attention. Fox News Channels Greta Van Susteren will broadcast live from Bolingbrook at 11 p.m.

[Denise]

http://cbs2chicago.c...k.2.479768.html

Bolingbrook Cop Speaks About Wife's Disappearance
Husband Says 23-Year-Old Is 'Where She Wants To Be'

Reporting Mike Puccinelli BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (CBS) ―

Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson commented Wednesday for the first time about the disappearance of his young wife Stacy Peterson. Meanwhile, prosecutors are taking a fresh look at the death of his ex-wife three years ago.

Sgt. Peterson says it was an unusual but fatal slip in the tub that caused the death of Kathleen Savio. He also took time to lash out on the media for, in his words, being more interested in the death of his ex-wife than in finding Stacy Peterson.

As CBS 2 West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli reports, at Stacy Peterson's Bolingbrook home police were on standby in marked and unmarked cars throughout the day Wednesday. While Drew Peterson and his kids remained holed up inside with no plans to go trick-or-treating. But CBS 2 did talk with his friend briefly outside the home.

"Drew is doing the best he can in a situation like this," Richard Mims said.

Drew and Stacy Peterson have been married for four years. She disappeared seemingly without a trace. Sgt. Peterson didn't want to go on camera but he did allow CBS 2 inside for a 10-minute conversation.

He described his last conversation with Stacy on Sunday night as being very unusual. He says she seemed "snotty."

He also said that her demeanor changed after one of her sisters died recently from cancer. He said she'd been under the care of a psychiatrist who had put her on the anti-anxiety drugs.

He also said he had no reason to suspect foul play in his wife's disappearance.

But Stacy Peterson's only surviving sister, Cassandra Cales, says Stacy lived in fear of the veteran police officer.

"She feared for her life," Cales said. "She wanted a divorce and was talking about getting a divorce."

Cales says her sister planned to meet with a divorce attorney on Monday. On Sunday she had planned to help a friend paint her home. When she never showed up, Cales started worrying.

"She told me if anything happened, if she disappeared she wanted somebody to know," Cales said.

So Cales called police before dawn Monday. Sgt. Peterson said he believes Stacy is "where she wants to be." He also said after she sees the media reports she'll either go deeper underground or she'll surface.

Police have been searching with canines and heat-seeking planes for Stacy Peterson. Sgt. Peterson said he thought it would be "very unusual" for Stacy to leave her children. He also said he has lived an honorable life and now people are looking at him with suspicion. He said that hurts.

[Denise]

http://abclocal.go.c...ocal&id=5736234

Search continues for sergeant's wife

By Ravi Baichwal

October 31, 2007 - The search for a Bolingbrook woman is centering on Yorkville, where she was reportedly headed before she disappeared.

Stacy Ann Peterson, 23, has been missing since Sunday. According to her husband, Bolingbrook Sergeant Drew Peterson, 53, she was going to a relative's home to help paint. He was the last to see her that morning. Her family reported her missing on Monday morning when they did not hear from her.

Peterson was in the process of divorcing her husband, who referred calls for comment to his lawyer. However, he did say over the phone that his wife 'is where she wants to be.'

Because of his position with the police department, the Illinois State Police is investigating the case. Officials with the state police did not return calls for an update. Despite that, Bolingbrook police officers were patrolling the Yorkville home.

The missing persons case has led the Will County prosecutor to review the 2004 death investigation of Kathleen Savio, Sergeant Peterson's third wife. She died in her Bolingbrook home in what a coroner's jury judged an accident. Peterson and Savio were divorced.

[Denise]

http://www.nbc5.com/...ss=chi&psp=news

State's Attorney Reading Through Old Files In Case Of Police Sergeant's Missing Wife
Previous Wife Of Police Officer Drowned In 2004; Current Wife Missing

Authorities said Wednesday they are looking again at the 2004 drowning death of a woman whose ex-husband -- a 53-year-old suburban Chicago police sergeant -- says his current wife is missing.

Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson's wife, Stacy Ann Peterson, 23, was last heard from Sunday before missing an appointment to help a family member paint and rehab a house, according to police.

Drew Peterson told NBC5's Alex Perez said his wife had been "very short-tempered and snapping on me. I have no reason to suspect foul play."

Peterson, who did not want to speak on camera, said he believed his wife was not missing, but was instead "where she wants to be."

The 29-year police veteran's previous wife, Kathleen Savio, drowned in her Bolingbrook home bathtub in March 2004, months after divorcing Petersen. No charges were filed and a coroner's jury ruled the 40-year-old's death accidental.

Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, however, has already started pulling and reading through old files from the Savio case, including police and coroner's reports, spokesman Charles Pelkie said Wednesday.

"In light of recent developments, he's reviewing this with an open and fresh mind ... to determine if further action will be warranted," he said, adding that Glasgow wasn't in office when Savio died and so hadn't been familiar with her case.

Pelkie declined to provide other details, but among the documents Glasgow would be likely to review are 2002 Will County court documents in which Savio asked for an order of protection, claiming her husband had threatened to kill her.

"He just doesn't care if he live(s) or die(s), or I live or die," Savio wrote, the Chicago Sun-Times reported in its Wednesday editions, citing the court documents. A year later, she filed for divorce.

Glasgow declined to speculate Tuesday about possible links between the Stacy Peterson and Savio cases, saying only that "there are some unusual circumstances in the 2004 case."

At the 2004 inquest, the coroner said Savio drowned, even though there was no water in the bathtub when she was found. Investigators theorized that the water must have drained out of the tub.

There's was no telephone listing for a Drew Peterson in Bolingbrook.

His mother, Betty Morphey, said in a phone interview Wednesday that her son and his wife, who had been studying pre-nursing at Joliet Junior College, got along "very well."

"He's very sad," said Morphey, who declined to comment further.

Bolingbrook police spokesman Ken Teppel said Tuesday that Peterson's disappearance was a missing persons case and that foul play was not suspected. Illinois State Police are investigating because it involved an officer's family, he said.

Police in the southwest suburban community referred all questions regarding the matter Wednesday to the state police. Several message left with the state police were not returned.

[Denise]

Dive team called to airport pond

November 1, 2007 (BOLINGBROOK, Ill.) - Officials are searching a retention pond in connection to the disappearance of Bolingbrook woman.

The Naperville Police Department dive team is searching the pond located near Clow International Airport in Bolingbrook. They are reportedly on the south end of the water near the runway.

The airport is just a few blocks from the home of Stacy Ann Peterson, 23, who disappeared Sunday. She is the wife of Bolingbrook Police Sergeant Drew Peterson, 53. Earlier in the day, officials from the Illinois State Police served a search warrant at their home.

Authorities have not said what they were looking for or what they found. Two vehicles near the home were seized by police and were towed from the property. It is not clear to whom they belong.

Witnesses said they saw someone escorted from the home. No one has been charged in the case, and Sergeant Peterson denies involvement in the disappearance. He said his wife left him.

However, Stacy Peterson's family said she would not have left her two small children. Her aunt, Candace Aikin, said Peterson told her that she wanted people to know she was unhappy in her marriage "if something bad happens to her."

"She would not leave without her children," said Sherrie Mills, Friend of Stacy Peterson.

Because of Sgt. Peterson's affiliation with the local authorities, the case is under the jurisdiction of state officials.

Neighbors in the subdivision are watching the scene unfold.

"Drew and Stacy, they come out and walk with the kids and stop by the house and pet the dog. And, you know, you become friendly with your neighbors," said Jim Lepper, neighbor.

The disappearance has triggered renewed interest by Will County prosecutors in the 2004 drowning death of Peterson's ex-wife, Kathleen Savio. Savio's father said Peterson received a $1 million life insurance policy following her death.

Peterson denies any wrongdoing in both his wife's disappearance and his ex-wife's drowning in her bathtub.

http://abclocal.go.c...l...&id=5737534

[Denise]

Bolingbrook sergeant's house searched in wife's disappearance
By Erika Slife, Matthew Walberg and Hal Dardick

Tribune staff reporters

November 2, 2007

Police are searching the Bolingbrook home of a veteran police sergeant today as part of their investigation into his wife's disappearance over the weekend.

At around 3 p.m., investigators arrived at the home of Drew Peterson, 53, on Pheasant Chase Court, with a search warrant that was obtained on Wednesday, said Charles Pelkie, spokesman for the Will County state's attorney's office.

Peterson's wife, Stacy, 23, has not been seen since Sunday morning.

Drew Peterson told the Tribune on Wednesday he believes his wife left him for another man, but that she is safe.

Peterson said she called him about 9 p.m. Sunday and told him she was leaving. That was the last time her cell phone was used, police said.

"Sorry, I get choked up about it," Peterson said in an interview at his home, his voice cracking. "I believe she's with someone else, but I believe she's safe."

As their two children, ages 2 and 4, scampered around the house, Peterson talked about celebrating their fourth wedding anniversary Oct. 18. He bought her a diamond ring, a present he said she couldn't wait to have, so she made him give it to her at midnight.

The couple met six years ago. She was 17. He was 47. At the time, she was working at a SpringHill Suites hotel in Bolingbrook.

"I had this uncontrollable need to take care of her," Peterson said. "We just hit it off, and one thing led to another. It wasn't something I planned. It was a very romantic time. It was very exciting.

Because of the age difference when they started dating, he said, his employer, the Bolingbrook Police Department, checked with the Will County state's attorney's office to make sure the relationship was legal.

"Imagine, approval for my romantic relationship," he said, chuckling softly.

With no laws broken, they continued dating and Stacy became his fourth wife. The couple married two years after meeting.

Stacy's relatives painted an unsettling characterization of her relationship with Drew Peterson.

"She just felt she was in an abusive relationship. She just wanted to get out," said Kerry Simmons, a family member.

She said she couldn't imagine Stacy leaving her children.

"She wouldn't leave like that. She'd never leave this house without an excuse. She would never leave her kids," Simmons said.

Her husband, Matthew Simmons, said, "We want justice. We want some closure."

He said the family would continue their search until they find her.

http://www.chicagotr...hi_tab01_layout

[Denise]

Whom do you believe?

November 1, 2007
BY DAN ROZEK AND STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporters

In the months before Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson's ex-wife drowned in her own bathtub in 2004, she told a relative she had detailed notes about her fights with her ex-husband -- just in case something bad happened to her.

Shortly before Peterson's current wife, Stacy A. Peterson, went missing earlier this week, she began telling her relatives she wanted people to know she was afraid -- in case she disappeared.

But on Wednesday, Drew Peterson -- facing a swarm of media -- fiercely denied he had anything to do with the drowning of Kathleen Savio or Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

"It bothers me," Peterson said during an interview in his Bolingbrook home. "I've led an honorable life, and people are looking at me sideways. It hurts. "

Drew Peterson, 53, a 29-year police veteran, said he believes his wife left voluntarily, even taking clothes with her. He said she's been suffering from "mood issues" since her sister Tina Ryan death's last year from colon cancer.

"Ever since then, Stacy has been different," Peterson said. ". . . She's been under the care of a psychiatrist." She's taking anti-depressants, he said.

The mother of two was supposed to help her sister, Cassandra, paint an apartment in Yorkville on Sunday but she never showed up, her family told the Sun-Times Wednesday. Drew Peterson said he last spoke to his wife Sunday about 9 p.m. He said he didn't know where she was calling from.

"She seemed snotty," Drew Peterson said, describing the call as "unusual," though he wouldn't disclose details of what was said.

"I believe she's not missing," he said. "She's where she wants to be. I have no reason to suspect foul play."

Besides the disappearance of his wife, Drew Peterson is also dealing with Will County prosecutors' decision to take another look at the 2004 drowning death of his ex-wife, Kathleen Savio.

Savio's relatives say they have always doubted the official conclusion that her death was accidental.

"I just have to live through it," Drew Peterson said of the renewed suspicions.

As for Stacy Peterson, Illinois State Police said Wednesday they have used tracking dogs and an airplane equipped with a heat-sensing device to search for the 5-foot-2-inch tall, 100-pound woman, but have not located her.

Investigators have found no signs of foul play.

On one point, Stacy Peterson's family agreed with her husband: Stacy was deeply depressed, "lost and confused," according to one relative. But they say she was troubled because her husband was watching her every move, and she wanted out of their four-year marriage.

"She just wanted people to know she was unhappy, and she didn't like how she was being treated," said her aunt, Candace Aikin, 48, of El Monte, Calif. "In case she disappeared -- if something bad happened to her."

Aikin stayed with the Petersons for a week earlier this month.

"Drew was very distant, and it was just a weird feeling," Aikin said. "I don't know how to explain it."

At one point during the visit, Aikin and her niece drove to a Bolingbrook grocery store and talked for an hour in the parking lot.

"She didn't feel like she loved Drew any more," Aikin said Stacy Peterson told her. "He was following her around. She wasn't allowed to have friends. She couldn't have a social life. She always had to be with him."

Drew Peterson repeatedly asked his spouse, 30 years his junior and his fourth wife, if she had a boyfriend, Aikin said.

Stacy Peterson told her aunt she'd asked her cop husband for a divorce, and he'd said to wait until he retired, Aikin said. Stacy Peterson wanted a way to leave, but she didn't want to lose the children she adored, Lacy, 2, and Anthony, 4.

"I know damn well she wouldn't go without them kids," said her uncle, Gary Cales, 68, of Hemet, Calif.

On Wednesday, Drew Peterson said: "I believed our marriage was good, but maybe she didn't."

When Stacy Peterson didn't show up for painting Sunday, her family called her repeatedly on her cell phone, but she didn't answer, and the family then called police.

Monday morning, Aikin called Drew Peterson at home. He wasn't there, but he returned her call that afternoon, she said.

Peterson told Aikin he'd spoken to his wife Sunday evening and "he said she went with someone. He didn't say who."

Aikin didn't probe further, but assumed Peterson meant his wife was with another man.

"He said she was with someone, and she was OK," Aikin said. Peterson also said his wife had taken some money from the couple's safe and had bought some new clothes.

"He got a little upset at one point because he said he didn't know what he was going to do," Aikin said.

Stacy Peterson's distraught relatives say they have heard nothing from her.

Aikin said she spoke to her niece weekly and knows she didn't have a boyfriend.

"She didn't have time for a boyfriend," Aikin insisted. "She had a husband who was following her 24/7."

The missing woman's mother has a history of disappearing and hasn't been heard from in years, Aikin said.

But Aikin says Stacy Peterson isn't like her mother and would never have abandoned her children.

Does Aikin think her niece is still alive?

"I hope she is, but I sort of don't," Aikin said. "I was scared for her when I was in that car [in Bolingbrook]. I was scared. I was looking around to see if he was following us."

http://www.suntimes....ling01.article#

[Denise]

'SHE'S GONE ON HER OWN'
A BOLINGBROOK SERGEANT SAYS HIS WIFE'S DISAPPEARANCE ISN'T FOUL PLAY.

November 1, 2007
By JOE HOSEY Staff Writer

BOLINGBROOK -- Stacy Peterson might come home again after blowing off some steam. Or she might not. Her mother hasn't yet, her son-in-law says, and she left eight years ago.

"I believe she's either going to tell people where she is or she's going to go down deeper, like how her mom did," said Peterson's husband, police Sgt. Drew Peterson.

Drew Peterson, 53, said this isn't the first time his 23-year-old wife split on him. She had taken off on him before, he said, when their children or he himself got to be too much.

"She would take off for a few hours like this," Peterson said. "She would say she would vent."

If this is the case again, Stacy Peterson has been venting for a while. She hasn't been seen since Sunday morning. By today, she is getting closer to going the way of her mother, who Peterson says vanished from Blue Island in 1999. The couple's marriage certificate lists the whereabouts of Stacy Peterson's mother, Christie Toutges, as unknown.

Drew Peterson said there have been indications Toutges is still alive but she has yet to surface. Peterson hopes the tendency does not run in the family.

He believe he last saw his wife at 9 a.m. Sunday. Their children woke him, and he says he believes she may have still been at home before leaving to help her sister's boyfriend paint a house in Yorkville.

Drew Peterson said his wife's family had rented the house to put up Stacy's brother, 28-year-old Yelton Cales, a convicted, registered sex offender. Stacy and others had painted the house in a vibrant color scheme, but Cales was picked up on a parole violation and returned to prison, Drew Peterson said. Stacy Peterson and her sister's boyfriend were painting the walls white again as a condition of getting out of the lease, Drew Peterson said.

She apparently never made it to the Yorkville home. Her family headed to District 5 state police to report her missing.

This episode in the Peterson marriage is the latest in an ongoing drama. Even the beginning of their love affair was steeped in scandal. He was a 47-year-old police officer, and she was a 17-year-old motel clerk. The department took notice, he said, and tried to quash the affair.

"The state's attorney said, 'He's not doing (anything) wrong,'" Peterson said, and the romance flourished into marriage.

It was this same romance that spelled the end of his marriage to his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Soon after Peterson's divorce from Savio and his marriage to the teenage Stacy Cales, Savio was found dead in the bathtub of the Pheasant Chase Drive home she had kicked her ex-husband out of.

The couple was divorced at the time of Savio's March 2004 death. He was returning their two sons from a weekend visitation when no one would answer the locked door.

Peterson, who lived down the street from Savio with his new wife Stacy, sought help from a neighbor, who called a locksmith. The neighbor then went inside and found Savio's body in a waterless bathtub.

The investigation revealed Savio drowned. While there was no water in the bathtub, it may have drained out over time, investigators speculated.

A coroner's jury ruled the death accidental. The state police investigation yielded no criminal charges.

That may change, as State's Attorney James Glasgow is revisiting the Savio case while state police scramble to find Stacy Peterson.

State police spokesman Mark Dorencz provided no details of the investigation.

"We're investigating," he said. When asked how they were investigating, Dorencz said, "We're done," and left.

Drew Peterson said the state police have behaved in a "businesslike manner" in their dealings with him.

'I had drama'

The Petersons' relationship and Savio's death aren't the only sources of turmoil for the police sergeant.

Peterson was indicted by a grand jury and fired from his job with the Bolingbrook department after allegations arose that he was trading secrets about his undercover narcotics unit to a drug dealer in exchange for drugs.

The charges later were dropped and Peterson got his job back.

The way he tells the story, it was the case of a prosecutor having it in for him.

"He shotgunned me," Peterson said.

A special prosecutor appointed to the case dropped the charges, saying the case was unprovable.

Confronted with this, Drew Peterson is quick to admit his life was interesting long before Stacy showed up in it.

"I had drama before Stacy, and Stacy just added to it," he said. "I believe, like I tell everyone, she's not missing. She's gone on her own. And it's not by (anything) that I did."

http://www.suburbanc...WIFE_S1.article

[Denise]

http://www.wbbm780.c...Airport/1162596

Missing Wife's Car Found At Suburban Airport

BOLINGBROOK ,Ill. (WBBM)  -- Clow Airport in Bolingbrook is one focus of the investigation into the disappearance of Stacy Peterson.

WBBM's Steve Miller reports.

Bolingbrook police say Sergeant Drew Peterson told them he found his wife's car at the airport Sunday night.

A camera is aimed at the parking lot of the airport, and investigators have been trying to figure out if they can get images that will yield some clues.

The problem, says Clow Airport Manager Joe DePaulo, is the the camera aimed at the parking lot is only a Web cam.  Meaning, it does not record anything.

DePaulo says investigators have been to the airport at least twice to try to get images from the Web cam.

As far as flights out, DePaulo says the Bolingbrook airport has no tower and keeps no records of most planes that go in and out.

[Denise]

http://www.wbbm780.c...nce--Ho/1163266


Police Question Sergeant, Search Home

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (WBBM)  -- Illinois state police investigators are at the home of Bolingbrook police sergeant Drew Peterson right now, executing a search warrant. 
 
They've also towed away two vehicles that were parked in the driveway. 

And they're reportedly questioning Peterson about the disappearance of his wife, 23-year-old Stacy Peterson although Illinois State Police  are not confirming  that he has been taken into custody.

Police tell WBBM they're executing two search warrants.  They say they do not have an arrest warrant for Drew Peterson.   

Stacy Peterson was last seen on Sunday and the last person who spoke to her over the phone was her husband. 

The couple has two young chidren ages 2 and 4.

The Drew Peterson, 53,  has denied any involvement in her disappearance, saying that she left on her own, however Stacy Peterson's sister has told WBBM her sister feared for her life. 

Cassandra Cales says she would talk to her sister Stacy Peterson every day. 

"She told me Friday night that she feared for her life and that she was telling me this, so that if she just so happened to disappear, it wasn't her and she wanted to be found."

Stacy Peterson is the fourth wife of Bolingbrook Police Sergeant Drew Peterson.

His third wife Kathleen Savio, 40, was found dead in a bathtub - a death that was ruled accidental. However, Will County officials have said they are taking another look at the case in light of the recent developments.

Bolingbrook police say Sergeant Drew Peterson told them he found his wife's car at the airport Sunday night.

A camera is aimed at the parking lot of the airport, and investigators have been trying to figure out if they can get images that will yield some clues.

The Illinois State Police have used tracking dogs and an airplane equipped with a heat-sensing device to search for the woman. Authorities also have found no indications of foul play.

Peterson said he thought the couple had a good marriage, ``but maybe she didn't,'' he said.
 
In fact, Stacy Peterson's family, while agreeing the woman was depressed, said the reason was she believed her husband was watching everything she did and had asked for a divorce.
 
``She just wanted people to know she was unhappy, and she didn't like how she was being treated,'' said her aunt, Candace Aikin, 48, of El Monte, Calif. ``In case she disappeared - if something bad happened to her.'' 

[Denise]

http://www.chicagosu...age/x1149875992

Police search missing woman's home, impound cars

Drew Peterson said he believes his wife, Stacy, 23, left him for someone else.

By Don Grigas and Dan Petrella
GateHouse News Service
Thu Nov 01, 2007, 06:21 PM CDT

Illinois State Police executed a search warrant Thursday afternoon at the Bolingbrook home of police Sgt. Drew Peterson, whose wife, Stacy, had been reported missing Monday.

The warrant was obtained by the Will County states attorney, according to spokesman Chuck Pelkie. Police towed two cars, a 2005 GMC sport utility vehicle and a 2002 Pontiac coupe, from Petersons property on Pheasant Chase Court.

Police arrived at Petersons house at about noon Thursday, according to neighbors, and the cars were towed at about 3 p.m.

Bolingbrook police and members of the media local, regional and national continued to be stationed outside Drew Petersons home four days after members of Stacy Petersons family filed a missing persons report with the Illinois State Police.

There is still no word on the whereabouts of Stacy Peterson, 23. FOI request denied

Bolingbrook police on Thursday denied a Freedom of Information Act request by the Reporter for the missing person report. Police cited as the reason for the denial that the investigation was ongoing and that releasing such information could hurt their efforts.
 
Bolingbrook police said Drew Peterson, 53, told investigators Monday he spoke with his wife on the telephone Sunday night about picking up her car at a Bolingbrook airport.

Police on Thursday were still labeling it a case of a missing person and not a criminal investigation.

Stacy Peterson, a mother of two, was reported missing by family members after she failed to show up Sunday morning to meet a friend help paint a house, police said.

Drew Peterson, who police said has been cooperating with authorities, told investigators Monday that he spoke with his wife by telephone at 9 p.m. Sunday, nine hours after members of Stacys family said they last heard from her via cell phone.

Initially, authorities did not divulge the content of the telephone call Drew Peterson said occurred nor could they confirm investigators had verified the call had been made through telephone records, citing the ongoing investigation but Bolingbrook police now say Drew Peterson told investigators Stacy called to tell Drew that her vehicle was at Bolingbrook Clow International Airport and that he should pick it up.

According to Ken Teppel, spokesman for the Bolingbrook Police Department, Drew Peterson told police he went to the airport and retrieved the vehicle.

(Drew Peterson) told us Stacy called him Sunday night to tell him the vehicle had been left at the airport, and he said he went there to recover it and brought it home that night, Teppel said.

No details were provided on whether Drew Peterson was driven to the airport to retrieve the vehicle or whether he walked there.

Petersons house is on Pheasant Chase Court, less than 400 yards from the airport.
That information is investigative, and because of the ongoing investigation, I cannot comment, said Teppel.

According to Joseph DePaulo, manager of the airport, investigators have been there regarding the case.

Unfortunately, Clow Airport is a general aviation airport without a manned tower, and pilots can take off and leave without (being documented), so there is no way to identify all of the planes that came in and out of the airport on Sunday, DePaulo said.

The airport does have three Web cameras one facing the parking lot and two facing the runway but they are not videotaped.

The Web cameras are used to provide a live feed on our Web site, but have no capability of taping, DePaulo said.

Family members told authorities they grew concerned when they could not contact Stacy Peterson by cell phone throughout the afternoon and evening Sunday,  said Teppel.

The last time Stacy Peterson reportedly spoke with a family member other than her husband was Sunday at about 10:15 a.m., Teppel said.

The last time a family member saw Stacy Peterson was Saturday night, police said.
The family filed a missing persons report with Illinois State Police at about 4 a.m. Monday.

Teppel said it is common practice for an outside law enforcement agency to investigate a case that involves a police officer from another jurisdiction to avoid a conflict of interest.

Three years ago state police investigated the death of Drew Petersons third wife, Kathleen Savio, when she was discovered dead in her bath tub, a death that was ruled an accidental drowning by the Will County coroners office.

That case is now under review by States Attorney James Glasgow, who was not in office at the time of Savios death.

Pelkie said the Savio case is being re-examined because of the unique and unusual circumstances involved.

Teppel said police have received no calls for domestic disturbances or other requests for assistance at the Pheasant Chase Court address where Drew and Stay Peterson reside.

The case has received local, regional and national media attention.

Weve had requests for information from at least seven national media outlets and almost all of the Chicago area print and electronic media, Teppel said. This is the most attention weve ever had here, probably as much or more than the case of Rachel Mellon disappearing more than 10 years ago.

Because of all the attention and all the media that have been camped out at the Peterson home, we have a unit on the street just to maintain some order.

According to Teppel and Illinois Trooper Mark Dorencz, Drew Peterson has been in touch with police and has been cooperative.

Drew Peterson has worked for the Bolingbrook Police Department for 29 years and has been married four times.

[Denise]

http://www.myfoxutah...TY&pageId=3.3.1

Police Surround House of Missing Illinois Woman  

Last Edited: Thursday, 01 Nov 2007, 2:50 PM MDT 
Created: Thursday, 01 Nov 2007, 10:01 AM MDT 

Bolingbrook police have reportedly taken husband of a missing Bolingbrook woman, Stacy Peterson, into custody for question related to her disappearance.

The Illinois State Police have surrounded the couples house. Two vehicles were seized from the property and towed to another location.

Stacy Peterson went missing on Sunday. Her husband Drew Peterson, 53, says he has nothing to do with her disappearance but believes she is unharmed.

"I believe she's with someone else, but I believe she's safe," Drew Peterson, 53, said of his wife, Stacy Peterson, whom he said called him Sunday night and told him she was leaving. He said she had even taken some clothes and money from the safe in the couple's home.

Drew Peterson, a 29-year police veteran and Bolingbrook police sergeant, said his wife has suffered from what he called "mood issues" since her sister's death from colon cancer last year.

"Ever since then, Stacy has been different," Peterson said Wednesday. "... She's been under the care of a psychiatrist" and is taking antidepressant medication.

Peterson, who is 30 years older than his 23-year-old wife, said the couple celebrated their four-year wedding anniversary last month. He said hours before his wife called him Sunday night she had left their home to help her sister and her sister's boyfriend paint their home.

She did not show up, prompting the family to try unsuccessfully to reach her on her cell phone, police said.

The Illinois State Police have used tracking dogs and an airplane equipped with a heat-sensing device to search for the woman. Authorities also have found no indications of foul play.

Peterson said he thought the couple had a good marriage, "but maybe she didn't," he said.

In fact, Stacy Peterson's family, while agreeing the woman was depressed, said the reason was she believed her husband was watching everything she did and had asked for a divorce.

"She just wanted people to know she was unhappy, and she didn't like how she was being treated," said her aunt, Candace Aikin, 48, of El Monte, Calif. "In case she disappeared -- if something bad happened to her."

Aikin said she talked to her niece every week and knows she did not have a boyfriend.

"She had a husband who was following her 24/7," she said.

Nor do family members believe the woman would leave without her kids, Lacy, 2, and Anthony, 4.

"I know damn well she wouldn't go without them kids," said her 68-year-old uncle, Gary Cales, of Hemet, Calif.

The disappearance has triggered renewed interest in the death of Kathleen Savio, Peterson's ex-wife who drowned in a bathtub in 2004.

[Denise]

http://www.chicagosu...age/x1819882057

Quiet neighborhood center of media attention

By Dan Petrella, dpetrella@mysuburbanlife.com
Bolingbrook Reporter
Thu Nov 01, 2007, 06:10 PM CDT

Trick-or-treaters in one Bolingbrook neighborhood had to navigate their way around satellite trucks and TV cameras Wednesday as they knocked on doors in search of Halloween candy.

Reporters and camera crews from local and national news stations camped out all day in front of the home of 53-year-old Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson, whose wife, Stacy Peterson, 23, has been missing since Sunday. Illinois State Police are investigating her disappearance.

Fox News Channels On the Record with Greta Van Susteren broadcast live at 9 p.m. Wednesday across the street from Petersons home.

Bolingbrook police circulated a flier Wednesday afternoon informing neighbors of the medias presence.

Jim Lepper has lived in the neighborhood for seven years, and his daughter went to high school with Stacy Peterson, though they didnt know each other well. He wasnt bothered by the press, although he said it was unusual in the nice, quiet neighborhood.

Its a young neighborhood. There are a lot of kids who are going to be trick-or-treating, Lepper said. Hopefully it wont disrupt them. As long as the kids arent nervous, Im OK with it.

Some trick-or-treaters avoided the cul-de-sac where Petersons home is located, but others knocked on the door, where someone was answering and passing out candy.

Sharon Knobbe said she first saw the trucks and TV crews Wednesday morning, before she had heard about Stacy Petersons disappearance.

It made me a little uneasy, because you dont know why all these news stations are out here and its so close to (Pioneer Elementary School), she said.

Knobbe and her husband, B.J., still took the kids out trick-or-treating.

If they were a little older and went by themselves, we might trail behind, but its fine, B.J. Knobbe said.

[Denise]

http://www.suntimes....ew01web.article

His side: Sgt. Drew Peterson

November 1, 2007
BY DAN ROZEK AND STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporters

Drew Peterson believes his missing wife left voluntarily -- even taking extra clothes with her -- and isn't a victim of foul play, the Bolingbrook police sergeant said Wednesday, breaking his silence on the puzzling disappearance of Stacy Peterson.

"I believe she's not missing. She's where she wants to be," he said. "I have no reason to suspect foul play."

His 23-year-old wife has been seeing a psychiatrist, taking Effexor, a prescription anti-depressant medication and struggling with "mood issues" since the cancer death last year of her sister, Peterson said during a brief interview in the couple's Bolingbrook home.

"Ever since then, Stacy has been different," the 53-year-old Peterson said. "There's been mood issues. She's been under the care of a psychiatrist."

That carried over into their last conversation, he said. She left their home Sunday morning to help a relative paint, then called him at their home at about 9 p.m. Sunday.

"She seemed snotty," Peterson said, describing the call as "unusual" though he wouldn't disclose details of what was said.

That call at 9 p.m. Sunday was his last communication with his wife -- and even then he said he didn't know where she was calling from.

"I don't know where she was when she called," he said.

Her relatives reported her missing about 4 a.m. Monday and there have been no signs of her since then.

Subhed
Illinois State Police said Wednesday they have used tracking dogs and an airplane equipped with a heat-sensing device to search for the 5-foot-2-inch tall, 100-pound woman, but have not located her.

Peterson, a 29-year veteran of the Bolingbrook Police Department, said he doesn't know why his wife of four years would leave him and their two children, ages 2 and 4, behind. She also adopted his children from a previous marriage, he said.

"I find that very unusual," he said of her absence. "She's a very good mom. For the last year or so, she's been very short-tempered, snapping on everyone, but still a good mom."

Stacy, who also took classes at Joliet Junior College, hadn't talked of suicide, Peterson said.

He said he thought their marriage was solid.

"I believed our marriage was good, but maybe she didn't," he said.

He believes the publicity surrounding her disappearance may prompt her to return, but added cryptically," there's other things involved."

Now taking leave from his job -- which he was set to retire from on Dec. 16 -- Peterson said he talked "for a while" on Monday night to state police investigators searching for his wife.

He said he found her purse, cell phone and even some clothing gone after she left their two-story brick home on Sunday.

Subhed
During the brief session with several reporters, Peterson banned any cameras, saying: "I would like to have my anonymity."

He sat at a desk in a first-floor study, with pictures of the couple's two kids -- Lacy, 2, and Anthony, 4 -- behind him on a bookcase.

Other pictures of the children and a photo of Peterson with his wife, sat nearby in the study.

Two sons from a prior marriage, now ages 12 and 15, also live in the house.

Peterson ripped media reports that Will County authorities are reviewing the 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, who drowned in a tub in her Bolingbrook home shortly after the couple had divorced.

A state police investigation concluded the death was accidental, but Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said Tuesday he wants to take another look at the case.

"She just had an accident," he said. "Yes, it was an unusual accident."

That announcement, he said, has created public suspicion that he was somehow involved in her death -- something he adamantly denied.

"It bothers me. I've led an honorable life and people are looking at me sideways," he said. "It hurts. I just have to live through it."

He also complained that publicity surrounding his wife's disappearance had disrupted the family, even keeping his children from going Trick-or-Treating on Halloween.

"My klds can't even go Trick-or-Treat. I hate it," he said. "I'm a prisoner here."

He declined to answer a number of different questions, citing the ongoing investigation and family privacy.

"I'm not going to say anything that would jeopardize my family," he said.

[Denise]

http://www.suntimes....cy01web.article

Their side: Stacy Peterson's family

November 1, 2007
BY DAN ROZEK AND STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporters

Stacy Peterson's family said Wednesday that the 23-year-old missing mother of two would never have abandoned her young children, ages 2 and 4.

"She's very sweet and caring," said Peterson's aunt, Candace Aikin, 48, of El Monte, Calif. "She's a very good mother to her children."

Peterson's uncle, Gary Cales, 68, of Hemet, Calif., agreed: "I know damn well she wouldn't go without them kids. I just know that for sure. That's the kind of mother she is. She loved those children."

Aikin said she is very close to her niece, and talks to her once a week by phone or e-mail. She said Stacy Peterson met her future husband about six years ago while she was working at a hotel in Bolingbrook.

Drew Peterson later got Stacy, then 17, a job at the Bolingbrook Police Department, Aikin said.

Aikin said Stacy Peterson grew up in Downers Grove and in Florida and Louisiana. Stacy's parents divorced when she was a little girl, Aikin said. Stacy lived with her father after the divorce, Aikin said, adding Stacy's mother had a history of vanishing without telling relatives where she was going.

"And then she would come back into our lives when she felt like calling."

Aikin said her family had concerns about Drew Peterson's character early on because he told Stacy when he began dating her that he had never been married.

In fact, Peterson had been married three times before.

When Aikin first met Drew Peterson, "He seemed like a nice guy. He was always very nice to me."

But in recent months, it became clear that Stacy Peterson was miserable in her 4-year-old marriage, Aikin said.

Stacy confided to her aunt that her cop husband wanted to control her every move. Drew Peterson often asked his wife if she had a boyfriend, Aikin said.

"She was very stressed in her relationship with Drew," Aikin said. "She was on anti-depressants, and she couldn't even sleep at night. When I saw her this last time [in October], she was having a very hard time coping with her life. She just looked lost and confused."

Stacy Peterson told her aunt she wanted to divorce her husband, but didn't want to lose her children.

Aikin said she last spoke to her niece on Oct. 21.

"She sounded kind of frantic, like she wanted Drew out," Aikin said. "She was trying to kick him out. She said she would get back with me but she never did."

[Denise]

http://www.suntimes....bside02.article

Family: Missing woman doesn't have mom's history of vanishing

November 2, 2007
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporter/sesposito@suntimes.com

Nine years ago, Christie Cales --clutching a Bible -- left her Blue Island home, saying she was going to church.

Cales' family never saw the mother of six again.

Cales -- whose daughter Stacy A. Peterson has been missing since Sunday -- had a history of vanishing for weeks on end, after a life scarred by the loss of two young children.

Peterson's family is adamant, as they wait for news about the 23-year-old Bolingbrook woman's whereabouts, that she isn't like her mother.

"I just can't say this emphatically enough: Stacy was the most excellent mother in the world," said her aunt, Suzan Robison, 60, of North Aurora. "She would never have walked off and left her children."

This week, Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson said his wife, like her mother, has a habit of taking off for a few hours to "vent." Peterson said he doesn't suspect foul play in the disappearance of his wife, missing since Sunday.

When Stacy's mother left for good, it came after Cales experienced crippling personal loss. Cales lost one little girl in a Downers Grove house fire in 1982 and then another child to SIDS in 1987, said Candace Aikin, another of Stacy Peterson's aunts.

"The first baby dying was just too much," Aikin said. "The second baby dying was way too much."

Relatives filed a missing person report, but it never resulted in any solid leads, Robison said.

Stacy Peterson has had other stresses. Another sister, Tina Cales, died of cancer last year at age 29, and Peterson felt trapped in an abusive marriage, her family told the Sun-Times this week.

Peterson had been depressed by her sister's death, but the grief did not seem insurmountable, family said.

And though the young Peterson cared for four children -- including two sons from her husband's previous marriage -- she never regretted the loss of personal freedom, her family said.

"She never felt any kind of bitterness for [her stepsons] being there," Robison said. "She was happy to take care of them."

[Denise]

http://www.chicagotr...ll=chi-news-hed

Family: Woman feared for life
Missing Bolingbrook wife wanted divorce, her aunt says

By Matthew Walberg, Erika Slife and Hal Dardick | Tribune staff reporters
10:52 PM CDT, November 1, 2007

  Two days before she disappeared, the wife of a Bolingbrook police sergeant told her husband she wanted a divorce, the missing woman's aunt said Thursday.

A day later, on Saturday, Stacy Peterson told her sister she feared for her life, said Suzan Robison, Stacy's paternal aunt.

Sgt. Drew Peterson, Stacy's husband, "was a very jealous, very controlling person," Robison said. "He followed her. He tracked her with GPS on her cell phone, called her constantly."

Robison gave the account of her niece's troubled marriage Thursday as police executed search warrants at the couple's home on Pheasant Chase Court in Bolingbrook and searched a pond at a general aviation airport blocks from the house.

Peterson, 53, told the Tribune on Wednesday that his wife Stacy, 23, called him Sunday night to say she was leaving. He said he believed she left for another man, an account Stacy's family members dismissed as highly unlikely.

Peterson said he never abused his wife and that he believed their marriage was good.

Asked outside his neighbor's house Thursday about whether he was nervous, Peterson told the Tribune, "Why should I be nervous? I did nothing wrong."

As police stepped up their probe of Stacy Peterson's disappearance, Will County State's Atty. James Glasgow scoured files related to the 2004 death of Peterson's previous wife, which other authorities ruled accidental.

"There were two items that we wanted to recover," Illinois State Police Capt. Ken Kaupas said, referring to Thursday's search. He declined to say what those were.

Family member Kerry Simmons said Stacy kept in the home a journal that contained notes about fights she had with her husband. "She documented everything," Simmons said.

Charles Pelkie, Glasgow's spokesman, said the warrants also gave police the authority to search a 2005 GMC sport-utility vehicle and a 2002 Pontiac coupe at Peterson's home.

No charges have been filed against Peterson, who went next door during the search and was not taken into custody.

Crime scene technicians searched the home with cadaver dogs, while at least one police helicopter flew overhead. Halloween decorations outside were deflated. Neighbors, including children, stood and watched.

Richard Mims, Peterson's longtime friend who was helping him watch his children, ages 2 and 4, said police in Peterson's home were looking at a computer.

Peterson later told the Tribune the police took the computer and his guns.

Mims said he "firmly believed there's no foul play here. I believe that in my heart."

Meanwhile, at least five police divers entered a pond at Bolingbrook's Clow International Airport, where a manager said police earlier this week tried unsuccessfully to review previous images from a Web cam. Federal Aviation Administration records indicate Drew Peterson is licensed to fly a plane, but manager Joe DePaulo said there were no records that Peterson had used the airport.

Peterson said Stacy left their home Sunday and called him at 9 p.m. to say she was leaving.

Her relatives said she never showed up Sunday to help them paint a house. After she did not answer her cell phone, the relatives reported her missing.

Police said her phone hasn't been used since 9 p.m. Sunday. .

"She would not go one day, much less four days, without calling her sister and her father and her Aunt Candace in California," Robison said. "There's no way she would walk out of her house without those kids. . . . If she was going to leave, she would have taken the kids and been on the phone with one of us."

Simmons said the couple were in marriage counseling, and she asked Stacy about it during a phone call last week.

"She said she didn't want to talk on the phone because she was afraid he was listening and watching everything she was doing," Simmons said. "She was stressed. She wanted out of her marriage."

In addition to the toddlers, Drew Peterson's two sons, ages 13 and 14, lived with the couple.

Peterson found Kathleen Savio, the mother of his sons, dead in the bathtub on March 1, 2004.

At the time they were officially divorced, but the court had yet to approve a division of assets. When Savio died, her sons, under Peterson's guardianship, received $1 million from a life-insurance payment, according to court records.

Peterson later received the proceeds from other life insurance policies, the profits from the sale of a bar they owned in Montgomery and profits on the sale of their home, all valued at more than $600,000, the records state.

Robison, 60, of North Aurora said that when she learned about the previous wife's death, she became scared for her niece.

She said her family is offering $20,000 for information leading to Stacy Peterson's whereabouts.

Family members also organized a 10 a.m. Saturday search of the DuPage River Greenway between Illinois Highway 53 and Weber Road.

Robison is trying to remain positive she will see her niece again. "I'm trying my best to," she said. "I'm kind of numb. I'm praying she's OK."